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Review:
 Bill
Buckley's son Chris wrote a novel satirizing the lobbying biz a
few years back, and one would think that Liberal Hollywood would
have kept far away as possible from this conservative screed. But
no. What we've got here is a valentine to everything that's bad
about American government and the joys of political correctness.
It works too!
We have to call Nick Naylor(Aaron Eckhart) our protagonist,
because we're not sure if he's a hero or a villain. What he does
for a living is spokesman for the Tobacco industry, which as we
all know, kills millions of people all over the world.
He's a great spokesperson indeed. We see him blowing away
advocates for good health and envornment on TV, and laughing at
how many people are killed by his pals Polly (Maria Bello) Bobby
Jay (David Koechner) the chief lobbyists for Alcohol and Firearms
respectively. They know what they're doing and they don't care.
Fun, huh?
On the other hand, Nick's trying his best to be a good father.
This despite the fact that his ex(Kim Dickens) is living with a
doctor. His son Joey(Cameron Bright) idolizes him, and with
reason. Dad is brilliant at what he does, and shows him when he
taks him along on a trip to LA, where Joey gets to see a
super-agent Jeff Megall (Rob Lowe) get product placement on a
major science-fiction flick and his dad bribe the retired and
bitter(Sam Elliott) get bribed into silence. It's a wonder to
behold.
What's most fun is the depiction of the defenders of good health.
Vermont Senator Ortolan Finistirre (William H. Macy) is made to
look like a moron and investigative reporter Heather
Holloway(Katie Holmes) a slut. One can tell it was written by a
Republican.
The star-studded cast is uniformly brilliant, and this is one
swell hoot. See it now.
Eric Lurio
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